Amid war, Nepal rebels build road to win hearts

Published 6:30 am, Sunday, April 3, 2005

TRIVENI, NEPAL - A steady stream of women and girls plod up from the riverbed, each balancing a heavy stone on her head. Above them, teams of workmen chip away at a rock face with pickaxes.

They are building what Nepal's Maoist rebels are calling "Martyrs' Road," a 55-mile dirt road winding through the Himalayan foothills deep in rebel territory.

A "historic" case of revolutionary development, undertaken by a rebel movement even as it fights a bitter civil war? Or a sinister example of forced labor on a massive scale?

None of the people working on this road is paid or even fed. Some are Maoist cadres who have "volunteered" their labor. Many are locals who are simply expected to contribute to the cause.

"The government calls us terrorists, but we want to prove we are capable of mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people in a cause that benefits them," said a leading regional official, using his party name Comrade Surya, or Sun.

Comrade Surya said the rebels were making history by being the first to undertake large-scale development while still fighting a war. This he credited to rebel leader Prachanda.

"We are proud we have created a new thinking while implementing Marxism-Leninism-Maoism in Nepal," he said, his two bodyguards close.

In just nine years, the rebels have gone from a small band of unarmed militants to a force that runs much of Nepal's countryside. In the process, 11,000 people have died.

An army helicopter buzzes far overhead, scanning this "enemy" road. Shortly after construction began in November, there was a lone raid. Since then the army has left the Maoist labor teams alone.

Now Playing:

The rebel authorities in Rolpa district have asked every family to contribute one person's labor for 10 days to help build the road. So far, 60,000 people have taken part, Surya said. Some have to walk several days to get here.

It could take three years to reach the road's final destination at Thawang, a small village the rebels consider their symbolic capital.